Vol. 461 No. 2
113 Miss M. Wallace asked the Minister for Social Welfare if he will consider reducing the age requirement for people accompanying a person with a physical or sight disability under the free travel pass companion scheme. [2676/96]
Free travel companion passes have been available since 1990 to persons who qualify for free travel as the recipients of social welfare type payments in respect of a disability and who, on account of their disability, are unable to travel alone. The free travel companion pass enables a person 16 years of age, or over, to accompany the pass holder free of charge. The majority of companion pass holders are either blind or mentally handicapped. As announced in the budget, the free travel companion pass is being extended to blind or visually impaired children with effect from next July.
Currently, the passes are available to the following: recipients of blind person's pension from my Department; people getting disabled person's maintenance allowance from a health board who are medically certified that they are unfit to travel alone; recipients of invalidity pension from my Department who are medically certified that they are permanently wheelchair bound; and free travel passholders who are being cared for by a recipient of the carer's allowance.
I have no plans, at present, to lower the minimum age of the companion below 16 years. However, I will keep the Deputy's suggestion in mind in the context of the future development of the free travel scheme generally.
